Call the Old Bridge football team the Cardiac Kids.
After a season-opening loss to a very good Shawnee club down at the Battle at the Beach on Ocean City, the Knights have won nine straight. But it hasn’t been easy.
It’s not easy for most teams, but Old Bridge has been on the bring a few times this year.
With a 23-8 lead on St. Thomas Aquinas at halftime on September 18th, a third-quarter field goal helped the Knights withstand a furious Trojan rally for a 26-24 win.
The next week, they trailed Piscataway at home, 26-0 at the half, before scoring 27 unanswered points to stun the Chiefs and win by one.
And last week, in the opening round of the playoffs for the top-seeded Knights, they needed a five-yard touchdown pass from Aiden Rios to Jordan Mercado with 15 seconds to go to survive and advance, 20-15, over the eighth-seed Lenape.
Now, it’s the sectional semifinals, as Old Bridge (9-1) looks to return to the Central Jersey Group 5 title tilt, where they lost last season to Washington Twp. out of deep South Jersey. Their opponent: fourth-seed Williamstown (7-3), and you can hear it live on Central Jersey Sports Radio Friday night at 6 pm, with pregame at 5:40. Mike Pavlichko and Nick hart have the call; click here to listen.
The Braves’ program has struggled the last few seasons, as this year will be its first time finishing over .500 since the COVID-shortened 2020 season. They won titles in 2012, 2018 and 2019, winning the South Jersey Group 5 regional championship in ’19, after falling in dramatic fashion to Sayreville in that very same game in 2018.
The winner will face either the third-seed Bombers (8-2) or second-seed Rancocas Valley (10-0). That game also kicks off at 6 pm, but down in Burlington County.
Williamstown has some tough losses to Pennsauken and defending “Central Jersey” Group 5 champion Washington Twp, as well as Northern Burlington. But, like Old Bridge, they’ve won some close games, and maybe more of them. Of their six regular season wins, four came by a touchdown or less, two – against Kingsway and Eastern – came by just a single point.
Senior QB Kristopher Foster thrown for 1,537 yards and 13 touchdowns, but also ten interceptions, while as a group they have rushed for just only 15 more yards than they’re passing, led by sophomore Sincere Ebanks, with 167 carries for 917 yards and nine scores.
Click below to hear preview interviews with both head coaches: